People in the embattled House Intel chair's California district are cutting him some slack amid Trump-Russia turmoil

The House Intelligence Committee chairman, Devin Nunes, on Capitol Hill on Friday.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The Republican leader of a bipartisan congressional investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election has himself become the story over the past week.

Nunes' constituents in his home district in California's Central Valley, however, are standing by him, Politico reported on Wednesday night. Nunes represents the 22nd congressional district, a farming region roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. He has held the office since 2003.

According to Politico's David Siders, residents in Nunes' district are largely displeased not with Nunes' actions of late in Washington but with people who are grilling him.

A local radio host said of the backlash against Nunes: "The way he's being lambasted and barbecued right now, how much worse can it get?"

Nunes' grilling began last week when it became clear that he, through an anonymous source, had become privy to information involving President Donald Trump but unrelated to his committee's Russia inquiry. In a handful of press briefings and interviews, Nunes said he said he had found evidence that some members of Trump's transition team had been scooped up in possible surveillance activities after the election.

Nunes with Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

"I have no idea what it is he knows, but the Devin I knew doesn't do this type of stuff normally," Nunes' former press secretary Johnny Amaral said, according to Politico. "And if he does … I can only surmise that it's something big."

Another local told Politico that Nunes deserved the benefit of the doubt: "I haven't seen anything that's really given me pause yet ... I have no idea the way it works in the intelligence community."

Nunes' revelations last week appeared to ease Trump off of his ongoing, unsubstantiated allegation that President Barack Obama had eavesdropped on his operations before the election. That has led some critics to wonder whether Nunes, who was a member of Trump's transition team, had been improperly cooperating with an administration that is under federal investigation.

A person shouts to Rep. Jason Chaffetz during Chaffetz's town-hall meeting at Brighton High School on February 9 in Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Bucking the trend

The support Nunes appears to be receiving back home stands in contrast to the reception other Republican lawmakers have encountered in their home districts in the past couple of months. The Trump administration racked up controversies in rapid succession following the inauguration, leading to swift blowback in Republican congressional districts nationwide.